The appearance of the swirl was shared online after it was caught in time-lapse on the Geophysical Institute’s all-sky cameraNorthern lights enthusiasts got a surprise as they watched the Alaska skies early on Saturday, when a light blue spiral resembling a galaxy appeared amid the aurora for a few minutes.The cause of the spiral was excess fuel that had been released from a SpaceX rocket that launched from California about three hours before it appeared. Continue reading...
Confirmation by officials makes it more likely Britain will be re-admitted to €95.5bn European scientific research programmeThe UK will not have to pay for the two years it has been out of the EU’s €95.5bn (£84bn) Horizon scientific research programme, EU officials have said, in a significant move that opens the door to British scientists.The European Commission statement that the UK was not required to pay for 2021 and 2022 when British membership of Horizon was frozen because of a dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol should in theory hasten a deal on British participation. Continue reading...
The answers to today’s lexical perplexities, and the Pilish prizewinnerEarlier today I set you these problems (and a challenge) about constrained writing, a literary form in which a text must conform to mathematical rules.Here are the puzzles again, with solutions. And below you will discover who won the Pilish challenge – judged by Sarah Hart, author of the fab new book Once Upon a Prime, about the links between maths and literature. Continue reading...
Elon Musk says launch of most powerful rocket ever built called off due to ‘pressurisation’ issueThe largest and most powerful rocket ever built was readied and fuelled for its first test flight on Monday, but SpaceX cancelled the launch minutes before blasting off after discovering a “pressurisation” problem.“A pressurant valve appears to be frozen, so unless it starts operating soon, no launch today,” the SpaceX founder, Elon Musk, said on Twitter. Minutes later, the launch was officially abandoned, with operators ending the countdown 40 seconds before lift-off. Continue reading...
Smug detractors may roll their eyes, but this ancient art gave me a deep understanding of who I am – until it began to feel restrictiveIn early 2017, I became completely fixated on the movements of Jupiter. The planet was hurtling towards my sign, Libra, which, in astrology terms, meant that I would feel the influence of the “luckiest” planet in the sky for as long as it remained in that position (a year). And I really did feel lucky that year. I made friends and lovers easily. I met the person I am now engaged to. Every day I woke up curious and excited, the bright, expansive presence of Jupiter floating right above me like a 61.42bn km² talisman. Thank you Jupiter, I remember thinking to myself. You are my favourite planet in space.My astrology obsession may have reached new levels that year, but it’s always been there. The instant I was born, at 6.36am, my mum wrote down the time so that I’d have an accurate birth chart (an insight into my character based on the alignment of the planets at my time of birth). Growing up, my grandma often read our tarot, the cards spread out on her soft, flowery bed, a vehicle for an unspoken closeness. And I had my own private relationship with astrology, too. Potential relationships would be vetted via star signs (I date Sagittariuses, not Capricorns). Life choices would be explained by the planets (no one goes out during Cancer season). And my conception of myself became hugely shaped by my own astrological makeup (a double Libra: charming when necessary, persuasive, more than a little flaky). In later years, I’d find myself scanning horoscope websites and checking astrology apps such as Co-Star and The Pattern daily.Daisy Jones is a writer and author of All the Things She Said Continue reading...
Mathematical rules for writingUPDATE: The answers and the prize winner is up hereToday’s puzzles celebrate the connections between mathematics and literature.They also mark the publication of Once Upon a Prime, a terrific new book about these connections, by Sarah Hart, professor of maths at Birkbeck, University of London. (One of the puzzles below gives you the chance to win a copy.) Continue reading...
There may not be many of them, but they can be very bright and fast, and viewing conditions look promisingThe Lyrid meteor shower will reach its peak in the early hours of 23 April. Created by dust from the tail of comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher), the Lyrids are not usually vast in number – only about 18 an hour are expected – but they are often very bright and fast moving. Some of the more spectacular ones are known to burn up so brightly that they cast shadows.This year, viewing conditions are expected to be good because the moon has just 9% of its surface illuminated, so even faint meteors will be visible. Occasionally, brief outbursts of 100 meteors an hour have been recorded for the Lyrids. The last report of such an outburst came from the US in 1982 and before that Japan in 1945, and Greece in 1922. Continue reading...
Excavation shows facility included luxurious dining rooms with views of fountains that gushed with wineOf all the Roman ruins that populate what is now a pleasant landscape of pine trees and meadows, under the distant gaze of the Alban Hills, the Villa of the Quintilii is perhaps the most impressive – almost a city in miniature, covering up to 24 hectares.Lying on the ancient Appian Way as it runs south-east from Rome, the villa had its own theatre, an arena for chariot races and a baths complex with walls and floors lined in sumptuous marble. Continue reading...
He was one of Wales’s greatest rugby stars – and the game’s first professional player to come out as gay. But it’s the truth about HIV that Gareth Thomas is set on tackling nowGareth Thomas isn’t sure where to start. Or, rather, if he should even try to. Mum, Yvonne, warned against it before he left Bridgend yesterday. The publicist now hovering in earshot seems unconvinced. Yet here the two of us are on a wintery March morning: sitting in a west London hotel lobby, to discuss a relationship he was in 10 years ago. His sex life, specifically. In how much detail remains uncertain.Thomas retired from rugby in 2011, but through punditry, activism and reality TV, the former Wales international – recently made a CBE – has maintained a major public presence. As an LGBTQ+ pioneer, sporting giant and HIV advocate extraordinaire, he’s a national hero in Wales and beyond. In secret, however, Thomas has been facing years of complex legal wrangling, including a criminal investigation. In a recently settled civil case, an ex-partner – Ian Baum – alleged that Thomas “deceptively” transmitted HIV to him a decade ago. Only in August 2022 did some of the details become public. That wasn’t Thomas’s call – he was given six hours’ notice. Continue reading...
The diagnostic terms for autism were overhauled 10 years ago. Experts, campaigners and autistic people reflect on these changesChris Bonnello, 37, was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome in 2011. But these days he just says he’s autistic. “A lot of us did not want to let go originally, it was something that fitted us very nicely,” recalls the teacher turned autism advocate who runs a website called Autistic Not Weird from his home in Nottingham. “But it is better for autistic people if we are all recognised, acknowledged and appreciated together.”Sarah Weston, 47, received a diagnosis of autism spectrum condition in 2019. Yet in daily life she describes herself as an “Aspie” – an informal, affectionate term for a person with Asperger syndrome. She doesn’t have the complex learning disabilities some autistic people do and which non-autistic people can think of when they hear autism. She says using Aspie or Asperger’s just helps outsiders understand what she’s like and clears up confusion. And she is certain, based on her cognitive and language abilities, that she would have received the Asperger’s label had she been diagnosed earlier. Continue reading...
An advocate of plant intelligence, the Italian author discusses the complex ways in which plants communicate, whether they are conscious, and what his findings mean for vegansBorn in Calabria in 1965, Stefano Mancuso is a pioneer in the plant neurobiology movement, which seeks to understand “how plants perceive their circumstances and respond to environmental input in an integrated fashion”. Michael Pollan in the New Yorker described him as “the poet-philosopher of the movement, determined to win for plants the recognition they deserve”. Mancuso teaches at the University of Florence, his alma mater, where he runs the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology. He has written five bestselling books on plants.What’s at the root of your love of plants?
Infections of ancestors lying dormant in DNA can be activated to help immune system attack tumoursRemnants of ancient viruses passed down over thousands or even millions of years in human DNA could help fight cancer, a study has found.Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute were studying lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally, to understand why some patients respond better than others to immunotherapy. Continue reading...
Suggestions in the US that eating the dessert can be beneficial have been greeted by a ripple of scepticism from British expertsDelicious, sweet and full of saturated fat, the concept of ice-cream as a health food is as ridiculous as it is compelling.But in what will be welcome news for many as Britain basks in warmer weather this week, an American public health historian has revealed how numerous studies over several decades have repeatedly found mysterious potential health benefits of the frozen dessert – only to be glossed over by scientists. Continue reading...
Scientists calculate 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano released 1,000 times more energy than Hiroshima bombA huge underwater volcanic event in Tonga last year was of a magnitude comparable with the most powerful nuclear detonation by the US, researchers have revealed.Scientists have used eye and earwitnesses accounts, along with data from tide gauges, satellites, evidence of broken windows and other sources, to calculate that the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, which occurred on 15 January 2022 and was felt around the world, likely involved five blasts. The last of them released energy equivalent to about 15 megatonnes of TNT. Continue reading...
Reports of new jabs being developed could fuel the perception that medicine can somehow eliminate death, says Dr Tabitha WinnifrithThe claim by Moderna’s chief medical officer that vaccines may save millions of lives is misleading and will only fuel the perception that somehow medicine can eliminate death (Cancer and heart disease vaccines ‘ready by end of the decade’, 7 April). This in turn leads to a disproportionate fear of death and a belief that dying is somehow a failure.There will be instances in which vaccines could prevent young, active people with a good quality of life from developing cancer, which might be welcomed. But cancer is a disease that is much more prevalent in late middle age and in elderly people. In these cases, a vaccine, while preventing someone from dying from cancer, will enable them to live a little bit longer, by which time they will have developed other ailments. They are consigned to living out their latter years while enduring the many debilitating conditions of old age. Continue reading...
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer has blasted off on an eight-year voyage from a spaceport in French Guiana. The European Space Agency's mission to Jupiter will survey three moons that may have once hosted life. Europa, Callisto and Ganymede are frigid, ice-covered Jovian satellites three-quarters of a billion km from the sun, but they have vast liquid water oceans beneath their surfaces. If hydrothermal vents – found on ocean floors all over Earth – exist, they may provide enough warmth for life to thrive in the darkness
European Space Agency probe due to arrive in 2031 to scan icy moons and study Great Red SpotThe European Space Agency’s Juice probe has blasted off on a landmark mission to Jupiter’s moons, rising on a plume of white from its launchpad in Kourou, French Guiana, on the north-eastern shoulder of South America.The mission, which was delayed for 24 hours after lightning threatened to strike on Thursday, intends to uncover the secrets of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, its enormous polar auroras, and how its mighty magnetic field shapes conditions on the gas giant’s nearby moons. Continue reading...
Genome sequencing of children with rare conditions should improve speed and accuracy of NHS diagnosesAbout 5,500 people with severe developmental disorders now know the genetic cause of their condition thanks to a major study that will be used to improve the speed and accuracy of NHS diagnoses.More than 13,500 families with a child with a severe developmental disorder across the UK and Ireland had their genomes sequenced to establish what genetic change had led to their condition, and whether it was inherited or the result of a mutation. All the children had previously been undiagnosed despite being tested. Continue reading...
A total solar eclipse will be experienced in WA’s Ningaloo region, while a partial eclipse on display in the rest of the countryOn Thursday 20 April, the Ningaloo region of Western Australia will experience a total solar eclipse. Eclipse chasers from around the world are converging on the town of Exmouth in hopes of experiencing the profound awe of standing in the moon’s shadow as it quickly races by.Only a narrow path across Earth, which includes Exmouth and Barrow Island in WA, eastern parts of Timor-Leste and also parts of Papua in Indonesia, will experience totality – when the moon fully blocks the light of the sun. Continue reading...
Study provides best evidence yet to suggest hearing aids could mitigate potential impact of hearing loss on dementiaWearing hearing aids could help cut the risk of dementia, according to a large decade-long study, which suggests that tackling hearing loss early may help reduce the global burden of the disease.Dementia is one of the world’s biggest health threats. The number of people living with the condition worldwide is forecast to nearly triple to 153 million by 2050, and experts have said it presents a major and rapidly growing threat to future health and social care systems in every community, country and continent. Continue reading...
Corallivorous fish were regarded as harmful to coral but research suggests their poo could be keeping reefs healthyThe faeces of coral-eating fish may act as “probiotics” for reefs, according to a study.Previously it was thought that corallivore – fish such as pufferfish, parrotfish and butterfly fish that eat coral – weakened marine surfaces. But new research suggests that by eating some parts of the coral and then pooing in different areas of the reef, they are part of a cycle that redistributes beneficial microbes that can help coral thrive. Continue reading...
European Space Agency pushes back launch of Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer project for 24 hoursThe European Space Agency has postponed its mission to Jupiter after weather forecasters flagged a risk of lightning strikes at its spaceport in French Guiana.Mission controllers on Thursday scrapped the launch about 10 minutes before the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or Juice, spacecraft was due to blast off on an eight-year voyage to survey a trio of Jovian moons where life may once have gained a foothold. Continue reading...
The rationalist in me knows that coincidences are inevitable, mundane, meaningless. But I can’t deny there is something strange and magical in them, tooIn the summer of 2021, I experienced a cluster of coincidences, some of which had a distinctly supernatural feel. Here’s how it started. I keep a journal, and record dreams if they are especially vivid or strange. It doesn’t happen often, but I logged one in which my mother’s oldest friend, a woman called Rose, made an appearance to tell me that she (Rose) had just died. She had had another stroke, she said, and that was it. Come the morning, it occurred to me that I didn’t know whether Rose was still alive. I guessed not. She’d had a major stroke about 10 years ago and had gone on to suffer a series of minor strokes, descending into a sorry state of physical incapacity and dementia.I mentioned the dream to my partner over breakfast, but she wasn’t much interested. We were staying in the Midlands at the time, in the house where I’d spent my later childhood years. The place had been unoccupied for months. My father, Mal, was long gone, and my mother, Doreen, was in a care home, drifting inexorably through the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s. We’d just sold the property we’d been living in, and there would be a few weeks’ delay in getting access to our future home, so the old house was a convenient place to stay in the meantime. Continue reading...
by Presented by Madeleine Finlay with Stuart Clark, p on (#6AR8M)
The European Space Agency’s long-awaited Juice Mission is about to blast off for Jupiter’s moons. Its goal: to find out whether the oceans below their icy surfaces could be capable of supporting life. Madeleine Finlay speaks to Dr Stuart Clark about why moons are the new Mars for scientists seeking life, how magnetic fields can help us understand these mysterious lunar oceans, and what Juice might mean for our understanding of life beyond the solar systemYou can read Stuart Clark’s reporting on this story hereClips: BBC News Continue reading...
US researchers say they have found method that could pinpoint disease before symptoms show, allowing earlier treatmentScientists have developed a new technique that could help diagnose Parkinson’s disease before symptoms show, and speed up the hunt for a cure.Parkinson’s is difficult to diagnose because at present there is no specific test for the condition. Symptoms vary and several other illnesses have similar symptoms, which means the condition can often be misdiagnosed. Continue reading...
Starting this June, four volunteers will spend a year pretending to live on the red planet inside the Mars Dune Alpha habitatRed sand shifts under the boots of the crew members. In the distance, it appears that a rocky mountain range is rising out of the Martian horizon. A thin layer of red dust coats the solar panels and equipment necessary for the year-long mission.This landscape isn’t actually 145m miles away. We are in a corner of the Nasa Johnson Space Center in Houston, in a large white warehouse right next to the disc golf course and on the tram route for tourists and school groups. Continue reading...
The climate crisis can seem overwhelming, but there are radical, pragmatic solutions – and they all begin with an ideaIs there any hope? Are we all doomed? I write books about the climate crisis, so I am often asked fearful questions like these. But I’m being asked them more and more often and by younger people, an alarming trend not unconnected to the number of scientific reports detailing how humans are pushing the Earth’s systems to dangerous extremes.I write about planetary-scale ecosystem destruction but, importantly, I also focus on our species’ extraordinary capacity to adapt; this has been key to our success in the past – and it is key to surviving our future. There are radical, yet pragmatic, solutions to our crises. But fear of what will happen if we don’t act is imprisoning people in a mindset that makes alternatives seem unthinkable. I am frequently told my solutions are unrealistic and will never happen; that people would rather fight each other in wars than adapt to share food and land, for instance. We make our own future, even if it’s hard to see the process. So let me try to make the case for hope.Gaia Vince is an author, journalist and broadcaster. Her latest book is Nomad Century: How To Survive The Climate Upheaval Continue reading...
by Presented and produced by Madeleine Finlay with Sa on (#6ANVK)
Installing artificial grass is becoming an increasingly popular way to achieve a neat, green lawn without much effort. But with environmental and potential health costs associated with plastic turf many campaigners and gardeners would like to see it banned. Madeleine Finlay speaks to Guardian feature writer Sam Wollaston and urban ecologist Prof Rob Francis about why people go for artificial grass, its environmental impact, and whether it’s time we rid ourselves of the idea of the perfect lawn altogether Continue reading...
A move to allow Australian psychiatrists to treat depression with psilocybin may herald a new eraSo-called magic mushrooms (those that contain the molecule psilocybin) have been used by people around the world medicinally and ceremonially for a very long time. Rock art in Kimberley, Western Australia, that depicts mushroom-headed beings, suggests people were using them 10,000 years ago to attain trance-like states. Strikingly similar images have been found in the Sandawe paintings of eastern Tanzania and in the Algerian Sahara. Now, after decades of these hallucinogenic fungi being consigned to the grubby margins of legality, humans appear to be rediscovering their benefits.From July, authorised psychiatrists in Australia will be permitted to prescribe psilocybin to patients with treatment-resistant depression. This hasn’t come out of the blue: the drug is a major ingredient in what has been dubbed the psychedelic renaissance – a resurgence of public interest and research in substances that began to be recognised for their medicinal qualities in the 1950s, before a wave of moral panic and irrational legislation placed them off-limits for years. Continue reading...
From creating a proper support network to practising saying no, experts suggest their best tips for a healthier, happier lifeLife changes can make us feel unsettled, taking away our ability to focus. Starting a new hobby or class is a great way to develop a renewed sense of purpose, leaving more space for creativity in our lives. Whether it’s learning a new language or trying a different sport, it really helps to take you away from that “mind clutter” you don’t want.
Zodiacal constellation of the lion was recognised by Mesopotamians as early as 4000BCNorthern spring is the perfect time to see the constellation of Leo, the lion. Being a zodiacal constellation, it sits in the plane of the ecliptic, which marks the path followed by the sun throughout the year. It is bordered to the west by Cancer, the crab, and to the east by Virgo, the virgin.Leo is a highly recognisable constellation because of its size and the number of bright stars it contains. The lion’s head is marked by the star Algenubi, and together with the stars that represent the mane and chest, forms an asterism known as “the sickle” because of its shape. The lion’s body is marked by four stars, Regulus, Algieba, Zosma, Denebola; the last star is named after the Arabic phrase meaning lion’s tail. Continue reading...
Research tells us living near our loved ones makes us happier and strengthens our relationships. But is that possible, and how can we be better friends if not?I had a little spasm of unease recently, listening to Elizabeth Day talking on the radio about her new book Friendaholic and the problems that having too many friends has caused her. It’s the same twitch I get reading psychologist Robin Dunbar’s famous research on how many relationships we can maintain. Five intimate friendships is the optimal amount – I scrape two – and Dunbar posited that we can maintain a network of 150 people close enough that it wouldn’t be awkward to have a drink with them. That’s Dunbar’s number: 150! I’d have to include everyone who walks their dog on my route, my whole pilates class and half the street to get there, and not knowing most of their names would surely push it over the awkwardness barrier. I mean, I can be awkward with my two intimate friends on bad days.It’s easy to feel inadequate about friendships, and I haven’t, historically, been a good friend. I don’t mean I steal boyfriends or betray confidences, but I’m chaotic, bad at prioritising and time slips through my fingers like water. I lived for a long time in a transient city – Brussels – where friendships seemed to be easily formed then easily forgotten and it gave me bad habits, I think, which make me seem thoughtless and careless. I suppose I have been thoughtless and careless.Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsCould rocks be conscious? Why are some things conscious and some not? Nigel J G Baptiste, WorcsSend new questions to nq@theguardian.com. Continue reading...
The eight-year, £1.4bn voyage into deep space will explore the frozen oceans of Ganymede, Europa and CallistoIn a few days, a £1.4bn probe will be blasted into space on an eight-year mission to find signs of life on other worlds in our solar system. The spacecraft will not head to local destinations such as the planet Mars, however. Instead, it will fly into deep space and survey the icy moons of distant Jupiter. In doing so, it will open up a new chapter in the hunt for extraterrestrial life.The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer - or Juice - will exploit an unexpected feature of our solar system. The greatest reserves of water turn out to exist on worlds very far from Earth, in deep space, and in orbit around the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. Juice is the first mission to be launched specifically to explore these remote worlds. Continue reading...
A lifestyle approach developed by Dr David Unwin shows benefits that could have significant health implicationsA red-brick surgery in the seaside resort of Southport in the north-west of England is on the frontline of one of the biggest questions facing the NHS: what’s the best fix for our growing obesity crisis?Dr David Unwin thinks he has the answer. He has championed a low-carb lifestyle that not only helps patients lose weight but also, in more than half of his patients who were on the diet, has even managed to reverse type 2 diabetes, once thought to be an irreversible and progressive disease. Continue reading...
Experts insist successes of Brussels’ €95bn programme could never be replicated by a UK-only substituteLeading UK scientists have dismissed government plans to provide a UK alternative to the EU’s €95bn research and innovation programme, Horizon, saying that being a member of a major international programme is essential to the country’s future.Last week, in an attempt to reassure the science sector, the government announced plans to set up a £14bn post-Brexit alternative to the UK’s membership of Horizon, which would come into operation if ministers could not agree on the terms of an “associate membership” of the EU scheme with Brussels. Continue reading...
More and more people were glimpsing light at the end of the tunnelIn April 1979, the Observer peeped behind the veil at near-death experiences. Improved cardiac care and the fact that ‘even boy scouts are now taught cardio-pulmonary resuscitation’ meant more people were glimpsing a bright light at the end of a tunnel – or something else – before being dragged back into this realm by medical science.NDEs fell into two broad categories, the article explained. First, ‘transcendence’, described as ‘the passage of consciousness into a foreign region or dimension’, but also encompassing that ‘life flashing before your eyes’ phenomenon. The other was ‘autoscopy’: feeling as if you were outside, and viewing, your own body. Continue reading...
From rhymes to chunking and large displays, neurology professor Richard Restak provides key tips to improve your memoryMethods for strengthening memory can be traced back hundreds, if not thousands of years. The key insight was learning to think in pictures, rather than words. And when you think of it, this makes sense. We are primarily visual creatures who best remember images, rather than words. The real challenge for our memory (and intelligence) is to correlate things that aren’t ordinarily thought of together. For example: my dog, Leah, is a Schipperke, which is a hard word to remember. Solution? Imagine a tiny boat (representing a tiny dog) with a huge portly captain – the skipper – standing in it while holding a key, skipper key. As in this example, images are most effective as memory prompts when they are whimsical, inappropriate and even outrageous compared to the objects that inspired them. Here are a few key tips to practise for retention and recall of memory. Continue reading...
Understanding why some animals are more susceptible to the disease could lead to improved screening for humansScientists are homing in on one of medicine’s most baffling mysteries: why some species avoid getting cancers while others are plagued by tumours that shorten their lives.Whales tend to have low rates of cancer but it is the leading cause of death for dogs and cats. Foxes and leopards are susceptible while sheep and antelopes are not. Bats are also relatively well protected against cancer but not mice or rats. In humans, cancer is a leading cause of death that kills around 10 million people a year. Continue reading...
Scientists warn of more marine heatwaves, leading to increased risk of extreme weatherThe temperature of the world’s ocean surface has hit an all-time high since satellite records began, leading to marine heatwaves around the globe, according to US government data.Climate scientists said preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) showed the average temperature at the ocean’s surface has been at 21.1C since the start of April – beating the previous high of 21C set in 2016. Continue reading...
Pandemic accelerated advances in vaccine technology, opening up possibilities for combating array of diseasesThe Covid-19 pandemic has been awful for many reasons. But if there is a bright side to the past three years, it is vaccines. Development and testing has advanced at an unprecedented pace since the arrival of Covid-19, enabling technologies that might otherwise have taken another decade to undergo late-stage clinical testing, regulatory approval and manufacturing scale-up to prove their mettle in millions of people.These advances have set the stage for further breakthroughs in the next five to 10 years that could help to combat some of the greatest scourges of humanity, from common respiratory infections to cancer. Continue reading...
With growing concerns inside as well as outside industry, it is clear that counting on developers to police themselves is not sufficientThe horse has not merely bolted; it is halfway down the road and picking up speed – and no one is sure where it’s heading. The potential benefits of artificial intelligence – such as developing lifesaving drugs – are undeniable. But with the launch of hugely powerful text and image generative models such as ChatGPT-4 and Midjourney, the risks and challenges it poses are clearer than ever: from vast job losses to entrenched discrimination and an explosion of disinformation. The shock is not only how greatly the technology has progressed, but how fast it has done so. The concern is what happens as companies race to outdo each other.The alarm is being sounded within the industry itself. This month more than 1,000 experts signed an open letter urging a pause in development – and saying that if researchers do not pull back in this “out-of-control race”, governments should step in. A day later Italy became the first western country to temporarily ban ChatGPT. Full-scale legislation will take time. But OpenAI, which released ChatGPT-4, is unlikely to agree to voluntary restraints spurned by competitors. Continue reading...
Study shows traits such as fluffy coats were encoded and became more pronounced as animals adapted to harsh Siberian climateWoolly mammoths’ distinctive traits, including smaller ears, large fat deposits and fluffy coats, became more pronounced over 700,000 years as they adapted to the harsh climate of the Siberian steppes, a study suggests.Researchers compared the genomes of 23 Siberian woolly mammoths with 28 modern-day elephants and found that many of the woolly mammoth’s traits were already genetically encoded in the earliest animals. However, as they evolved, their bodies adapted to their environment, enabling them to retain more heat. Continue reading...
An eloquent but relentless attempt to prove the superiority of polyglots fails to convinceDisclosure: this reviewer is pi-lingual, a word coined by Douglas Hofstadter to describe people who speak three languages and can also have a cringingly inept conversation with a taxi driver in a couple more. Any book like this one, which purports to prove scientifically that polyglots are superior, has my vote. All the more since no great diligence was required of me to achieve this, aside from tagging along with my parents and a couple of patient English girlfriends met at an impressionable age. I therefore picked up this account of the virtues of multilingualism in smug mode, channelling my son who, at age 7, was fond of starting conversations with strangers with “I speak three languages, how many do you speak?”, which unsurprisingly won him few friends.I was not prepared for the number of scientific reasons this (overlong) book provides for additional smugness and fewer friends. Viorica Marian, who was born in Moldova, speaking Russian and Romanian, immigrated to the US and is now a professor at Northwestern University, has clearly made a living out of making monolingual colleagues – which in her neck of the woods must be a majority – feel inadequate. The first half of The Power of Language is a relentless, and eloquently written, studies-have-shown gallop through her work and that of her peers. All of which supposedly demonstrates, ad nauseam, that polyglots are measurably better than monoglots at almost everything: smarter, more inventive, more adaptable. Continue reading...
Hormone-disrupting chemicals are entering our bodies. We eat 44lbs of plastic in our lifetimesWhen it comes to keeping off extra pounds, watching what we eat may not be enough – we have to keep an eye on our food’s packaging, too.Rates of obesity among US adults have increased from 14% in 1980 to 42% today, and half the world is expected to be overweight or obese by 2035, with children and teens facing the sharpest increase in obesity and its consequences. Because data doesn’t support the idea that overeating and lack of exercise are squarely to blame, the scientific community is exploring other factors that may contribute – including metabolic disruption caused by eating products packaged in plastic.Adrienne Matei is a freelance journalist Continue reading...
Human hair from Spanish island indicates consumption of substances during ritualistic ceremoniesResearchers have found evidence of drug use during bronze age ceremonies.Analysis of strands of human hair from a burial site in Menorca, Spain, indicates ancient human civilisations used hallucinogenic drugs derived from plants. Continue reading...
by Thaslima Begum in Sylhet and Kaamil Ahmed on (#6AJQ0)
Despite the WHO declaring it eliminated in 1998, thousands of tea pickers have caught the diseaseAloka Gonju didn’t take much notice of the discoloured patch of skin on her left hand until her fingers began to stiffen and hurt. It became a struggle to pick leaves at the tea plantation where she works in Bangladesh.“I had no idea what was happening to me,” says the 47-year-old, whose wages support her husband, four children and three grandchildren. Continue reading...
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